Tendulkar Battles for India at Eden Gardens

Sachin Tendulkar top-scored for India on the first day of the third Test against England, but its unlikely to silence the doubters.

Sachin Tendulkar scored 76 runs on the first day of the third Test in Kolkata, which ended with India on 273 for seven and England in the better position. If Eden Gardens had a driver’s seat, the visitors would be settling into it now.

Tendulkar is used to life under the spotlight, but the glare has rarely been as intense as it is now, following a long dip in form and mounting speculation about his retirement, particularly with Australia’s Ricky Ponting deciding to depart from the international scene.

The 39-year-old fought hard for his 76 runs Wednesday before he edged a James Anderson delivery to Matt Prior, who dived to his right and just held on to the ball as it rolled up his arm.

Anderson, who has now dismissed Tendulkar eight times in his career, was the pick of England’s bowlers, ending the day with three wickets, the last of which was of Ravichandran Ashwin, who he clean bowled just as the No.8 was staging a late fight with captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Monty Panesar also continued his fine form from the second Test in Mumbai, which England won by 10 wickets, celebrating in style after dismissing opener Gautam Gambhir for 60 and Cheteshwar Pujara, India’s dangerman of the series thus far, for 16.

England will be the happier of the two teams at the end of the first day, with the four-Test series delicately balanced at one win apiece. But with Dhoni still in, India has the chance to press on toward the 300-run mark on Thursday, even though the Indian captain has been out of sorts in Test cricket. He faced 59 deliveries for his 22 runs, adopting a similarly slow and steady approach to Tendulkar, who faced 155 balls.

Tendulkar relied more on boundaries, scoring 13 fours in his innings. But he looked uncomfortable for much of the day, particularly as he crawled toward his half century, the 66th of his Test career and 13th against England. He looked more at ease from then on, and the chatter inevitably turned to whether or not he’d get his 101st international century.

He didn’t, and the scratchiness of his innings means the doubters won’t have been silenced, but Tendulkar’s supporters will take heart that he still knows how to put up a fight.

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